Snyder Communications

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Snyder Communications Inc. (SNC) was an American advertising company started in 1988 by Daniel Snyder and his sister Michelle Snyder. It offered outsourced marketing services like direct and database marketing, product sampling, sponsored displays, call centers, and field sales.

SNC went public in September 1996, selling 7.8 million shares at $17 each and raising more than $130 million. Daniel Snyder became the youngest CEO of a NYSE-listed company at 32. The company grew quickly by buying other firms. In 1995 it bought Arnold Communications, and later acquired Medical Marketing Detailing Inc., American List Corp., Good Neighbor Direct, and Brann Holding Ltd. SNC’s own revenue nearly doubled from 1995 to 1996, reaching $82.8 million. The two acquisitions mentioned here cost just over $200 million in total. Before the IPO, Ventiv Health was spun off, and Circle.com, SNC’s online business, was tracked as a separate stock.

During the late 1990s SNC continued expanding, buying PromoTech Research Associates in 1997, Blau Marketing for $72 million, and two pharmaceutical contract sales groups—Pharmflex for $34 million and Rapid Deployment Group for $24.5 million. In 1998 SNC bought MKM Marketing of Munich for $58 million. In January 2000 SNC created Bounty SCA Worldwide to organize its many marketing services.

Toward the end of 1999, Snyder began exploring a sale to focus on owning the Washington Redskins football team, which he had purchased earlier that year. On April 4, 2000, Havas Advertising agreed to acquire Snyder in an all-share deal worth more than $2 billion. SNC’s market value before the sale was about $1.3 billion. SNC’s three divisions—Bounty SCA Worldwide, Arnold Communications, and Brann Worldwide—were merged into Euro RSCG, Campus, and Diversified Agencies, with Arnold Communications becoming Havas’ Arnold Worldwide Partners.